Apparatus and method for determining a schedule of an appliance

ABSTRACT

A method of determining an optimal schedule for performing a cycle of operation in the appliance wherein the schedule is a function of the tradeoff factor wherein the tradeoff factor is used to determine a rate threshold above which a delay request is included in the optimal schedule, and the rate threshold is a summation of I) an average of a series of projected rates for the use of the resource by the appliance for a future series of time periods and II) a product of the tradeoff factor and a standard deviation of the series of projected rates.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/022,575, filed Sep. 10, 2013, entitled “Method for Determining anOptimal Schedule of an Appliance,” now U.S. Pat. No. 9,686,093, issuedJun. 20, 2017, which is incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND

Home appliances use energy to perform cycles of operation, and users areincreasingly interested in energy efficient home appliances that reducethe amount of energy an appliance uses to decrease energy costs.Enabling the user to manage energy use in appliances benefits not onlythe user, but also the utility suppliers who must respond to peakdemands with minimal disruption to the supply. Previous energymanagement solutions enable users to select more energy efficientcycles, to delay appliance use until energy cost or demand is low, andto shut down or pause an appliance cycle in progress if energycost/demand becomes high.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

An aspect of the present disclosure relates to a method of defining asignal sent to an appliance, the method comprising acquiring pricingdata from a source of information about a resource used by the appliancewhile performing a cycle of operation, obtaining a user preference for atradeoff factor associated with the use of the resource by theappliance, calculating at least one projected rate for the use of theresource by the appliance for a future series of time periods to definea series of projected rates, assigning a delay request to selected timeperiods based on the factor and the projected rate, creating a projectedschedule for performing the cycle of operation for the future series oftime periods, and transmitting a signal to the appliance to perform thecycle of operation based on the projected schedule wherein the tradeofffactor is used to determine a rate threshold above which the delayrequest is included in the projected schedule and the rate threshold isa summation of I) an average of the series of projected rates and II) aproduct of the tradeoff factor and a standard deviation of the pricingdata.

In another aspect the present disclosure relates to a method ofscheduling a cycle of operation in an appliance, comprising obtainingfrom a user of the appliance a tradeoff factor between 0 and 1 based ona user's preference for a level of participation in management of aresource, determining an optimal schedule for performing a cycle ofoperation in the appliance wherein the schedule is a function of thetradeoff factor wherein the tradeoff factor is used to determine a ratethreshold above which a delay request is included in the optimalschedule, and the rate threshold is a summation of I) an average of aseries of projected rates for the use of the resource by the appliancefor a future series of time periods and II) a product of the tradeofffactor and a standard deviation of the series of projected rates, andtransmit a signal to the appliance to implement the projected schedule.

In yet another aspect the present disclosure relates to a non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium for defining a signal to be sent to atleast one appliance, the non-transitory computer readable storage mediumcomprising instructions for a server to acquire pricing data from asource of information, obtain a tradeoff factor where the tradeofffactor is indicative of a user's preference for a level of participationin management of a resource, calculate at least one projected rate forthe use of the resource by the appliance for a future series of timeperiods to define a series of projected rates, assign a delay request toselected time periods based on the tradeoff factor and the projectedrate, create a projected schedule for performing the cycle of operationfor the future series of time periods, and transmit a signal to theappliance to perform the cycle of operation based on the projectedschedule wherein the tradeoff factor is used to determine a ratethreshold above which the delay request is included in the projectedschedule and the rate threshold is a summation of I) an average of theseries of projected rates and II) a product of the tradeoff factor and astandard deviation of the series of projected rates.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a system for transmitting a messageregarding a schedule for performing a cycle of operation of an applianceaccording to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a controller of an appliance of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart depicting a first embodiment of a method ofdefining a message to be sent to at least one appliance regarding aschedule for performing a cycle of operation.

FIG. 4 is a view of a mobile device depicting a user's preference for alevel of participation in management of a resource and an optimalschedule for a cycle of operation of an appliance according to anembodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a system 10 according to one embodiment ofthe invention. The system 10 includes at least one appliance 11, 12, 13,14 in communication with a remote device 16 via at least onecommunication network 18, such as the Internet. Optionally, theappliance(s) 11, 12, 13, 14 can be part of a home network or home areanetwork (HAN) 20 for communication with other devices within a home. Arouter 22 can be provided for forwarding data between the appliance(s)11, 12, 13, 14 and the communication network 18. A user display 24 in amobile device (as illustrated) or elsewhere on the appliance(s) 11, 12,13, 14 can also be provided for showing system information to a userabout aspects of the system 10 including an optimal schedule forperforming a cycle of operation.

The appliance(s) 11, 12, 13, 14 of the system 10 may be a home ordomestic appliance that performs a particular job in a home, includingthose relating to cleaning, cooking, or food preservation. The homeappliance, for example in the case of a dishwasher 12, may include ahousing at least partially defining a treating chamber (not shown) andhaving an open face selectively closed by a cover, shown herein as adoor, for providing access to the treating chamber. The treating chambercan receive one or more article(s), and the appliance 12 may treat thearticle(s) according to a useful cycle of operation. Again, in the caseof a dishwasher 12, the treating chamber can receive one or moredish(es), and the dishwasher 12 can perform a cleaning system on thedish(es) in the treating chamber. Other types of appliances, including,but not limited to a refrigerator 11, a clothes washing machine 13, aclothes dryer 14, a freezer, a range, a stove, an oven, or a cooktop maybe used with the system 10. All of these examples of home appliances canreceive one or more article(s), and can perform a useful cycle ofoperation on the article(s). Other examples of appliance types typicallyfound within a home and which may be used with the system include an airconditioner, a water heater, and a pool pump.

While four appliances 11, 12, 13, 14 are shown in FIG. 1, it should beunderstood that the system 10 can include any number of appliancesincluding more or less than four. The appliances can be located within asingle home or at a common location, and some or all may be part of theHAN 20.

A receiver 15 can be used to connect each appliance 11, 12, 13, 14 tothe HAN 20, and may be a separate or an external device or it may becarried by or, as shown in FIG. 1, built into the appliances 11, 12, 13,14. The receiver 15 can communicate with the appliance by a wireless orwired connection. The receiver 15 is associated with the appliance forreceiving signals sent via the communication network 18. The receiver 15can also have a transmitter, whereby signals from the appliance can betransmitted to the communication network 18 by the receiver 15wirelessly.

The remote device 16 can communicate information with and/or respond torequests from the appliance(s) 11, 12, 13, 14 from a remote location,typically outside of the home or HAN 20. The remote device 16 caninclude a data storage unit for storing data, such as historical usageor operational data for the appliance(s) 11, 12, 13, 14 based oninformation from the receiver 15.

The remote device 16 may comprise one or more servers which manages theappliance's access to a centralized resource or service. For example,the remote device 16 may be a server of a utility provider 26, 28, 29,and may communicate demand information, such as if the utility wereexperiencing a high or critical demand, or pricing information, such asthe present or future cost of energy. In another example, the remotedevice 16 may be a server of a manufacturer of the appliance 12 or someother third-party, and may communicate energy information similar tothat from a utility provider 26, 28, 29. While only one remote device 16is shown in FIG. 1, it should be understood that the system 10 mayinclude multiple remote devices 16. The remote device 16 may communicatewith one or more utility providers 26, 28, 29 via the communicationnetwork 19 and, in the case where the communications networks 18, 19 arethe Internet, may be the same communication network.

The communication network 18 may be a private or public network, and maytypically be a WAN (wide area network) such as the Internet. Similarlythe HAN 20 may be a private or public network, and may typically be aLAN (local area network). The router 22 forwards data between thecommunication network 18 and the HAN 20. The HAN 20 may have a differentcommunication protocol than the communication network 18, in which casethe router 22 or another device (not shown) can translate the data sentbetween the communication network 18 and the HAN 20 between thedifferent communication protocols. The router 22 can be a separatedevice in the HAN 20, or it can be built into one of the appliances 11,12, 13, 14.

The user display 24 can provide users with access and control of theappliance(s) 11, 12, 13, 14 and/or the HAN 20. Through the user display24, a user can monitor and control resource consumption by theappliance(s) 11, 12, 13, 14. The user display 24 may, for example,comprise a smartphone, a tablet computer, a desktop computer, and anotebook computer. While not shown in FIG. 1, the user display 24 may becoupled with the HAN 20.

Appliances consume resources received from utility provider 26, 28, 29.Typical resources include electricity, gas and water. The cost of theresources fluctuates, sometimes depending on whether there is a highdemand for a particular resource during a certain time period. Previousresource management solutions have attempted to control appliances basedon the fluctuating cost or demand. When a cycle of operation is inprogress or about to begin, previous resource management solutions havepermitted the cycle to be paused, delayed, and/or scheduled.

Appliances use varying amounts of resources while performing a cycle ofoperation; some activities within a cycle consume more resources thanothers. For example, one resource intensive activity performed byappliances such as dishwashers and clothes washers is heating water.Other non-limiting examples of resource intensive operations includemaking ice in a refrigerator, drying clothing on a high heat setting ina clothes dryer, heating an oven to a selected cooking temperature,self-cleaning an oven, and generating steam in a steam appliance. If acycle of operation in a dishwasher were suspended in response to ademand for energy reduction after a volume of water has already beenheated, and during the suspension the water cools, the dishwasher wouldhave to reheat the water again upon resuming the cycle of operation. Insuch a case, suspending an appliance mid-operation may be less energyefficient and more costly to a user than allowing the appliance tofinish its current activity or even the entire cycle of operation.

Referring to FIG. 2, one embodiment of a controller 30 for each of theappliances 11, 12, 13, 14 is illustrated. The controller 30 controls theoperation of the appliance to implement one or more cycles of operation.The controller 30 may be located within one or more of the appliances11, 12, 13, 14, and be operably coupled with a control panel or a userinterface 32 for receiving user-selected inputs and communicatinginformation to the user. The user interface 32 may include operationalcontrols such as dials, lights, switches, and displays enabling a userto input commands, such as a cycle of operation, to the controller 30,and receive information. The user interface 32 may, for example, includeat least one display 33 and at least one selector or button 35. Thedisplay 33 can include lights or other discrete indicators withaccompanying text, or a graphical user interface, such as a touchscreen. The button 35 can include a push button, switch, or dial on theuser interface 32 that a user physically actuates, or a virtual buttonon a graphical user interface, such the display 33. Alternatively or inaddition, the user display 24 may be used as a user interface 32 for theappliance, and may be coupled with the controller 30.

Options may be provided for the user to select or control how theappliance 11, 12, 13, 14 consumes resources and reacts to energy events.Such selections can be made at the appliance 11, 12, 13, 14, thereceiver 15, or through the user display 24. For example, the display 33or button 35 on the user interface 32 of the appliance 11, 12, 13, 14may be used to activate one of a power saving setting, a money savingsetting, and an ignore setting of the appliance 12. The power savingsetting may be a setting that a user can select in order to set thecontroller 30 to automatically take actions that will minimize theamount of power that the appliance 12 consumes. The money saving settingmay be a setting that a user can select in order to set the controller30 to automatically take actions that will minimize the cost ofoperating the appliance 12 for the user. The user may additionally setthe degree to which their preferences are to be asserted. The ignoresetting may be a setting that a user can select in order to set thecontroller 30 to operate without any special regard to the amount ofpower that the appliance 12 consumes or the cost of operating theappliance 12. Additionally, the user may set the degree to which theirpreferences may be asserted.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the controller 30 may be provided with anon-transitory storage medium 34 and a central processing unit (CPU) 36.The non-transitory storage medium 34 may include any suitablecomputer-readable media, with the sole exception being a transitory,propagating signal, one non-limiting example of which includes a memory.The non-transitory storage medium 34 may be used for storingcommunication software which is configured to effect communicationbetween the controller 30 and an external network, such as the HAN 20 orthe communication network 18. The non-transitory storage medium 34 mayalso be used for storing control software that is configured to effectone or more cycles of operation by the appliance(s) 11, 12, 13, 14.Examples, without limitation, of cycles of operation in the case of adishwasher 12 include: Smart Wash, Pots/Pans, Normal Wash, China/Gentle,Fast Wash, and Quick Rinse. The communication and control software canbe executed by the CPU 36. The non-transitory storage medium 34 may alsobe used to store information, such as a database or table, and to storedata received from one or more components of the appliance 12 that maybe communicably coupled with the controller 30. The database or tablemay be used to store the various operating parameters for the one ormore cycles of operation, including factory default values for theoperating parameters and any adjustments to them effected by the controlsystem or by user input.

The controller 30 may be operably coupled with one or more components ofthe appliance 11, 12, 13, 14 for communicating with and controlling theoperation of the component to complete a cycle of operation. Forexample, in the case of a dishwasher 12, the controller 30 may beoperably coupled with a heater 38 for heating wash liquid during a cycleof operation, a drain pump 40 for draining liquid from the treatingchamber, a recirculation pump 42 for recirculating wash liquid during acycle of operation, a dispenser 44 for dispensing a treating agentduring a cycle of operation, one or more valve(s)s 46 for controllingthe flow of liquid or air through the treating chamber, and one or moresensor(s) 48 to control the operation of these and other components toimplement one or more of the cycles of operation. Non-limiting examplesof a sensor 48 that may be communicably coupled with the controller 30include a temperature sensor and a turbidity sensor to determine thesoil load associated with a selected grouping of dishes, such as thedishes associated with a particular area of the treating chamber. In thecase of other types of home appliances, the controller 30 may beoperably coupled with components typical to such appliances that arecommonly controlled.

The previously described system 10 and one or more appliances 11, 12,13, 14 provide the structure necessary for the implementation of amethod of defining a message to be sent to at least one applianceregarding a schedule for performing a cycle of operation. Embodiments ofthe method function to determine when an appliance should perform acycle of operation, based on a projected resource cost. In oneembodiment, a projected schedule of delay requests based on pricing dataabout a resource to be consumed is formed into a message to betransmitted to an appliance. For future time periods where the cost ofconsumption of the resource is determined to exceed a threshold, a cycleof operation for the appliance may be delayed until the price for theresource decreases below the threshold. In a home or system withmultiple appliances, the schedule of delay requests for each appliancecan be determined system-wide. Thus, the overall energy bills to theuser can be minimized. Additional options can be provided for the userto select or control the threshold used in generating the schedule ofdelay requests. One embodiment of the method will now be described.

FIG. 3 shows a flow chart depicting a first embodiment of a method 100of defining a message to be sent to at least one appliance regarding aschedule for performing a cycle of operation. The method 100 may beexecuted at least in part by the remote device 16 and the resultingmessage transmitted to the controller 30 of the appliance prior to acycle of operation of the appliance 12; in other words, before theexecution of the control software by the CPU 36. It is understood thatthe embodiments of the methods shown in the flow chart can be combinedin any logical manner. The sequence of steps depicted is forillustrative purposes only and is not meant to limit the method 100 inany way as it is understood that the steps may proceed in a differentlogical order, additional or intervening steps may be included, ordescribed steps may be divided into multiple steps.

Initially at step 110, the remote device 16 may acquire pricing datafrom a source of information about a resource consumed by the appliancewhile performing the cycle of operation. The source of the information112 may be any data source in communication with the remote device 16with access to consumer resource rates for resources including, but notlimited to, electricity, natural gas and water. Data sources may includethe utility provider that may provide, for example, electronic access toa database via a communication network 19 such as the Internet.Alternatively, the remote device 16 may acquire pricing data from asmart meter installed to record a user's energy consumption for purposesof monitoring and billing. A smart meter equipped with advanced meteringinfrastructure (AMI) may be able to relay pricing data from a utilityprovider to the remote device 16 via communication network 18. Given thenetworked resources available to the remote device 16, other sources ofinformation are contemplated whereby the remote device 16 may beconfigured to gather data related to resource pricing or availabilityfrom online data sources. Data sources may include utility rateaggregators and independent system operators. For example, theMidcontinent Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc. (MISO)generates a day-ahead market report for electrical energy rates as wellas reports for real-time and historical electrical energy rates.

At step 114, the remote device 16 may obtain a user preference for afactor associated with the use of the resource by the appliance. Theuser may have previously selected a level of participation whereby theyestablished a profile with a setting indicative of the tradeoff betweenthe user's desire to save money and reluctance to delay a cycle ofoperation for the appliance. Based on the user's profile setting, theremote device 16 may obtain a factor with a spectrum of ranges, forexample from 0 to 1, that quantifies the tradeoff. As described above,the user may make such selections at the appliance 11, 12, 13, 14, thereceiver 15, or through the user display 24.

At step 116, the remote device 16 may calculate a projected rate for theuse of the resource by the appliance for a future series of timeperiods. The pricing data acquired in step 110 and the future series oftime periods may not be synchronized, potentially requiring the remotedevice 16 to interpolate and/or extrapolate the acquired pricing data toestimate resource rates for the desired future series of time periods. Anumber of methods for utility resource price forecasting, particularlyfor electricity and gas resource markets, have been developed, one ormore of which may be implemented for calculating a projected rate forconsumable resources. Stationary time series models, such asautoregressive, dynamic regression and transfer function andautoregressive integrated moving average models (ARIMA) have beenproposed for projecting resource rates. Also, non-stationary time seriesmodels such as the generalized autoregressive conditionalheteroscedasticity (GARCH) model and neural networks have been used aswell. While the remote device 16 may calculate the projected rates forany future time series, a preferred time series includes one hour timeperiods for a 24 hour cycle commencing at the following midnight (localtime at the location of the one or more appliances).

For example as shown in Table 1, the remote device 16 may calculateprojected rates for electricity usage for the subsequent day. Each rowof the table is a vector with an element for the start time (formattedin Table 1 on a 24-hour clock) and the projected rate (formatted inTable 1 in units of cost per energy, more specifically, dollars perkilowatt hour).

TABLE 1 Time Rate  0:00 0.02335  1:00 0.02260  2:00 0.02062  3:000.02000  4:00 0.01898  5:00 0.02265  6:00 0.02491  7:00 0.02796  8:000.04145  9:00 0.03900 10:00 0.02876 11:00 0.02864 12:00 0.02795 13:000.02689 14:00 0.02889 15:00 0.02450 16:00 0.04353 17:00 0.03774 18:000.03755 19:00 0.02977 20:00 0.02692 21:00 0.02890 22:00 0.02548 23:000.02270

At step 118, the remote device 16 may assign a delay request to selectedtime periods based on the factor obtained at step 114. To assign a delayrequest, the remote device 16 may compare the user-selected factor tothe projected rate for the use of a resource as calculated in step 116.One way of comparing the factor to the projected rates is byestablishing a threshold built upon the average and standard deviationof the projected rates and the factor, whereby the threshold iscalculated as the summation of the average of the pricing data and theproduct of the factor and the standard deviation of the pricing data.The relationship between the quantities is expressed as:γ=μ+ασ

where γ is the threshold, μ is the average of the series of projectedrates, α is the user-selected factor and σ is the standard deviation ofthe series of projected rates. Other calculations may be used toestablish the threshold. For example, the distribution of the projectedrates for the future series of time periods may be modeled by one ofmany distribution functions including but not limited to Gaussian,Rayleigh, uniform etc. Based on the model, the threshold may becalculated based on parameters of the distribution function. This mayhave the effect of augmenting the equation with additive ormultiplicative coefficients based on the parameters of the model.

Continuing with the example set forth in Table 1, the average rate for24 hour cycle is $0.0283/kWh or 2.83 ¢/kWh and the standard deviation is$0.00682/kWh or 0.682 ¢/kWh. The assignment of delay request thendepends on the user-selected factor. Table 2 shows possible assignmentof delay requests based upon two example factors, 0.1 and 0.9 thatresult in assignment of delay requests for time periods where theprojected rate exceeds $0.0290/kWh or 2.90 ¢/kWh and $0.0345/kWh or 3.45¢/kWh, respectively.

Time Rate Factor = 0.1 Factor = 0.9  0:00 0.02335  1:00 0.02260  2:000.02062  3:00 0.02000  4:00 0.01898  5:00 0.02265  6:00 0.02491  7:000.02796  8:00 0.04145 DELAY REQUEST DELAY REQUEST  9:00 0.03900 DELAYREQUEST DELAY REQUEST 10:00 0.02876 11:00 0.02864 12:00 0.02795 13:000.02689 14:00 0.02889 15:00 0.02450 16:00 0.04353 DELAY REQUEST DELAYREQUEST 17:00 0.03774 DELAY REQUEST DELAY REQUEST 18:00 0.03755 DELAYREQUEST 19:00 0.02977 DELAY REQUEST 20:00 0.02692 21:00 0.02890 22:000.02548 23:00 0.02270

As shown in Table 2, the remote device 16 may assign more delay requeststo an appliance where the consumer has indicated a stronger preferenceto save money (i.e a user-selected profile with a relatively low valuedfactor) than to an appliance where the consumer has indicated areluctance to delay a cycle of operation (i.e a user-selected profilewith a relatively high valued factor). Due to the data driven nature ofthe assignment of the delay requests, the projected market prices maystrongly influence the difference in the number of delay requestsassigned to users with different preferences. That is, the variation ofthe projected rates in the future time series highly correlates tovariations in the distribution of delay requests issued to applianceswith different user-selected factors. Conversely, relatively flat ratesacross the future time series will result in the assignment of delayrequests that is largely uncorrelated to the user-selected preference.In the extreme, where the projected rates are identically equal for thefuture time series, the remote device 16 will not assign any delayrequests.

At step 120, the remote device 16 may create a projected schedule forperforming the cycle of operation for the future series of time periods.The remote device 16 may distill the assigned delay requests to a seriesof delay request start times and durations. For example, as shown in thethird column of Table 2 above, the remote device may create a schedulewith two delay requests; a first delay request starting at 8:00 with aduration of two hours and a second delay request starting at 16:00 witha duration four hours. In a second example, as shown in the fourthcolumn of Table 2 above, the remote device may create a schedule withtwo delay requests; a first delay request starting at 8:00 with aduration of two hours and a second delay request starting at 16:00 witha duration 2 hours.

At step 122, the remote device 16 may incorporate the projected scheduleinto a message to be sent to the controller 30 of the appliance prior toa cycle of operation. Depending upon the communication network 18 andits associated protocol that the message is to be sent across, themessage may additionally contain any of the standard messagingparameters well-known in the art of digital communications. Theseparameters may include header and routing information for data transferalong nodes of a network. Error correction control may be encoded in themessage to ensure integrity of the message.

The schedule may be encoded in the payload of the message and mayinclude additional information that the remote device 16 transmits tothe appliance(s) 11, 12, 13, 14. For example, the message, particularlythe payload of the message, may include an offset for each delay requestin the schedule. The offset may preferably be a random number andideally encodes a value between 0 and 5 minutes, though other values maybe used. In this way, each of the appliances 11, 12, 13, 14 that delay acycle of operation according to the same schedule of delay requests donot begin or resume the cycle at the same time. Randomly offsetcommencement of cycles of operation for appliances is known to avoid thedeleterious effects related to synchronized loading of a utility,particularly with respect to electrical energy. Finally, at step 124,the remote device 16 may transmit the message to the appliance(s) 11,12, 13, 14 through the communication network 18 through the system 10described in FIG. 1.

Referring now to FIG. 4, the user display 24, particularly in a mobiledevice, may now be described. Though shown in FIG. 4 on a smartphone,the aspects of the interface described applies without limit to a tabletcomputer, a desktop computer, and a notebook computer and may be applieddirectly to an interface provided on the appliance(s) 11, 12, 13, 14 orthe receiver 15. The user display 24 may allow the user to set thefactor used in determining the schedule of delay requests by setting auser control representing the tradeoff between the user's desire to savemoney and reluctance to delay a cycle of operation for the appliance.For example, a user control 210 may be provided on the user display 24representing a sliding scale where the user may select one of a range ofvalues. The range of values may have a fine resolution such that thevalue may smoothly transition from the high point 216 to the low point220, or may be a set of predetermined values where the user must selectone of a limited plurality of levels of participation. As shown, thesliding scale may have a high point 216 and a low point 220 where theuser may select any point in between marked by the bar 214. In theexample shown, the high point 216 may represent the user's reluctance todelay a cycle of operation and the low point 220 may represent user'sdesire to save money. The spectrum of values in between the high point216 and the low point 220 represent the relationship between these twoincentives. The user may select a value indicative of their preferenceby one of any of the conventional methods for selection in graphicalcontrols including, but not limited to, moving a slider 218, touching atouch screen element at the desired point, audio input, etc.

A second user control 212 may provide a display of the scheduled delayrequests. The control element 212 graphically represents the schedulepresented in TABLE 2. That is, each column represents a time period, forexample, one hour. The height of the column represents the price of theconsumable resource for the time period. The shading of the columnrepresents whether a delay request has been assigned for the timeperiod. For example, all of the time periods 230, 236 above the pricingthreshold 226 are time periods with delay requests. The time periods228, 232, 234 below the pricing threshold 226 are time periods withoutdelay requests. The time periods 230, 236 represent durations of timewhere a cycle of operation of an appliance will not begin and, undercertain circumstances, may be interrupted if previously commenced. Bytoggling the buttons 222, 224, the user may view the schedule currentlyin place (i.e. today's schedule) or the future schedule (i.e. tomorrow'sschedule).

While the invention has been specifically described in connection withcertain specific embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that thisis by way of illustration and not of limitation. Reasonable variationand modification are possible within the scope of the forgoingdisclosure and drawings without departing from the spirit of theinvention which is defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of defining a signal sent to anappliance, the method comprising: acquiring pricing data from a sourceof information about a resource used by the appliance while performing acycle of operation; obtaining a user preference for a tradeoff factorassociated with the use of the resource by the appliance; calculating,from the pricing data, at least one projected rate for the use of theresource by the appliance for a future series of time periods to definea series of projected rates; assigning a delay request to selected timeperiods based on the tradeoff factor and the at least one projectedrate; and transmitting a signal to the appliance to perform the cycle ofoperation based on the assigned delay request; wherein the tradeofffactor is used to determine a rate threshold above which the delayrequest is assigned and the rate threshold is a summation of I) anaverage of the series of projected rates and II) a product of thetradeoff factor and a standard deviation of the pricing data.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising creating a projected schedule forperforming the cycle of operation for the future series of time periodsbased on the assigned delay request.
 3. The method of claim 2, furthercomprising storing the projected schedule.
 4. The method of claim 3,further comprising retrieving the stored projected schedule andutilizing the stored projected schedule in creating the signal.
 5. Themethod of claim 2 wherein the signal controls a delay of animplementation of the cycle of operation based on the projectedschedule.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the resource is one ofelectricity, water or natural gas.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein theresource is electricity and the pricing data is cents per kilowatt hour.8. The method of claim 1 wherein the time periods are one hour each. 9.The method of claim 1 wherein the future series is a 24 hour period. 10.The method of claim 1 wherein the future series commences at a followingmidnight.
 11. The method of claim 1 wherein the source of information isat least one of a smart meter, utility, utility rate aggregator, and anindependent system operator.
 12. A method of scheduling a cycle ofoperation in an appliance, comprising: obtaining from a user of theappliance a tradeoff factor over a predetermined range based on a user'spreference for a level of participation in management of a resource;determining an optimal schedule for performing a cycle of operation inthe appliance wherein the schedule is a function of the tradeoff factorwherein the tradeoff factor is used to determine a rate threshold abovewhich a delay request is included in the optimal schedule, and the ratethreshold is a summation of I) an average of a series of projected ratesfor the use of the resource by the appliance for a future series of timeperiods and II) a product of the tradeoff factor and a standarddeviation of the series of projected rates; and transmitting a signal tothe appliance to implement the optimal schedule.
 13. The method of claim12 wherein the level of participation is selectable by the user on asliding scale.
 14. The method of claim 12 wherein one of a plurality ofpredetermined levels of participation are selectable.
 15. The method ofclaim 12 wherein the resource is one of electricity, water or naturalgas.
 16. The method of claim 15 wherein the resource is electricity. 17.A remote device configured to communicate with appliance and a source ofinformation about a resource consumed by the appliance, wherein theremote device comprises at least one server configured to: acquirepricing data from the source of information; obtain a user preferencefor a tradeoff factor where the tradeoff factor is indicative of auser's preference for a level of participation in management of aresource; calculate at least one projected rate for the use of theresource by the appliance for a future series of time periods to definea series of projected rates; assign a delay request to selected timeperiods based on the tradeoff factor and the projected rate; andtransmit a signal to the appliance to perform a cycle of operation basedon the assigned delay request; wherein the tradeoff factor is used todetermine a rate threshold above which the delay request is included ina projected schedule and the rate threshold is a summation of I) anaverage of the series of projected rates and II) a product of thetradeoff factor and a standard deviation of the series of projectedrates.
 18. The remote device of claim 17 wherein the at least one serveris further configured to create the projected schedule for performing acycle of operation for the future series of time periods.
 19. The remotedevice of claim 18 wherein the signal being based on the assigned delayrequest includes the signal being based on the projected schedule.
 20. Anon-transitory computer readable storage medium for defining a signal tobe sent to at an appliance, the non-transitory computer readable storagemedium comprising instructions for a server to: acquire pricing datafrom a source of information; obtain a tradeoff factor where thetradeoff factor is indicative of a user's preference for a level ofparticipation in management of a resource; calculate at least oneprojected rate for the use of the resource by the appliance for a futureseries of time periods to define a series of projected rates; assign adelay request to selected time periods based on the tradeoff factor andthe projected rate; create a projected schedule for performing a cycleof operation for the future series of time periods; and transmit asignal to the appliance to perform the cycle of operation based on theprojected schedule; wherein the tradeoff factor is used to determine arate threshold above which the delay request is included in theprojected schedule and the rate threshold is a summation of I) anaverage of the series of projected rates and II) a product of thetradeoff factor and a standard deviation of the series of projectedrates.